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Iitoa-10061-10083 | 2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992 |

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"Report os Antondo RODRIGES Echasabal

ACTION REQUIRED REFERENCES
REF: DIR 39176, 1 February 1962

1. As stated in sefervnse, attached for passage to(GEIGE/am two eopiss
of « report on Antonio RIDRIGUE Echasebals the origtnal ef (Gis reyort was
given te (CHICH/T on 6 Pobruary 192.

The last paragraph of attechnont tadus request for the result:
of te Uebelefing ef Banjest. . “= -

| *MORTDER F. BINGHAM

Attachnsnt?
Report (2 es u.s.e.)

Distribatiens

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. § Fev.uary 1962.

MEMORANDUM FOR : (M. de Vosjeit7

SUBJECT : Report on Aatonio RODRIGUEZ Echasabal

Antonio RODRIGUEZ Echazabal wae bora in Cuba oa 17 August 1913.
He has a maaster' s degree in agriculture, professedly has no religion but
is a Mason. RODRIGUEZ is married to Edith JONES, who was bora in
Cuba om 10 March 19173 she is, however, of Haitian origia, being the
‘daughter of a former Haitian Ambassador to Belgium, aad she is a devout
Episcopalian. The couple is known to have three children: a son who was
‘last reported to be in Havana,. Cuba; a daughter married to a man of
German birth who was employed in the Castro land-reform organizatioa |
‘uatil hie departure for Germaay ina Decerr.ber 196]; and a son, Antonio
RODRIGUEZ Jones, bora 24 August 1943 at Havana, who was studying at
the Ecole Francaise Internationale in Washington, D.C. in 1961. This son
has been reported to be anti-U.5. and to have requested permission of his
father to go to Cuba or to another socialist’ country to continue his —

; education,

“Antonto: ‘RODRIGUEZ: Jones resided’ vy . Washington, D: Cc. with Yvonne’.
JONES, his: ‘gaunt. and ‘sister of. the. ‘wife of Antonio RODRIGUEZ Echasabal.
* Mise JONES was bora 10 April 1910 at Antwerp,” ‘Belgium; she was unmarri:

and was @ secretary at the Pan Americas Health Organisation. She became
a U.S. citizen in 1959. Since the Castro regime has come to power,

‘Mins JONES is sald to have ‘spoken quite opealy for Castro aad against the
U.S. Government.

_ RODRIGUEZ lived is Haiti for about eighteen years prior tothe =
: _ Commencement of hie diplomatic career, having been barred by the Batiet:
“"- - -. goverament from returning to Cuba. He became a Haitian citizen and was
' "the owner of a Port-au-Prince meat market called "Zl Ose Blanco". Wher
Castro assumed power ia Cuba, RODRIGUEZ teok over the Cuban Embassy

in Pert-au-Prince in January 1959 alter the Batista-appolated officials had
fled to the Dominican ‘Republic. Seon thereaiter he was aamed Ambaseado:

to Haiti. re

Following his appointment to the diplomatic poet, RODRIGUEZ continu:
to maintaio contact with persons in opposition to President Duvalier of Hai:

vitizen of Cuba 9 7 NYY hte
Wutze Weg CS : Ne boas

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In late July 1959, Haiti was invaded by a small gx ap of Cubans, supposed
as a prelude to an invasion of the neighboring Dominican Republic. The
incursion was successfully repelied by the Haitian Government, which
publicly charged RODRIGUEZ with complicity in the raid. RODRIGUEZ the::.
closed the Cuban Embassy and returned to Cuba after selling hie private
property in Haiti.

While RODRIGUEZ was atill in Haiti, two attempta were made on his
life. He accused the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic and,
indirectly, the Haitian Goveran.ent of coniplicity in those attacks.

u

_ In November 1959, RODRIGUEZ went to Guatemala as Cuban Ambassado:
There, he appears to have associated freely with pro-Commuaist groups. J.
March 1960, b he was requested by the Guatemalan Goverament to leave the
country on the ground that he was engaging in activities inimical to the best
interests of Guatemala.

In November 1960, RODRIGUEZ reported to Karachi, Pakistan, as Cub::
Ambassador. His wife accompanied him there and served as his chief
secretary. During the initial months of hie tour there, hie closest relation.
in the diplomatic coloay were with officials of the Belgian Embassy,
_ presumably as a result of the fact that. Belgium had represented Cuba when
| there was no Cuban representative in ‘Karachi. During 1961, however, his

‘social contacts were almost exclusively: ‘with, Soviet,, satellite aad Chinese
‘Communist diplomatic personnel. oO oe

In late 1961, ‘when RODRIGUEZ apparently had L decided ¢ to defect, he
confided to an acquaintance in the diplomatic colony that he wae finished
‘with politics and wanted to devote the rest of his life to agriculture. He ho:
at the time to go to the Dominican Republic or to another, unspecified Seut!
American nation.. At the time of his departure from Karachi by alr for
Germany ia early 1962, RODRIGUEZ reportedly made only a very limited
statement at the airport regarding his defection. The event apparently
received very little, if any, press notice in Pakistan.

- . - Insufficient information exists at present to permit a determiaation ae :
“the genuineness of RODRIGUEZ's disaffection with the Castro regime. Fo:
- yaasons which have not as yet been fully. reported, the Department of State
. dented a visa to RODRIGUEZ, apparently after he had made the decision tc
resign his post in Pakistan. We understand, howevor, that, following his

.
ase,

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arrival in France in January 1962, "he received permission froma French =
authorities to travel to and reside in Martinique. It appears that he left ©
France on 31 January 1962-en route to Martinique.

This service would appreciate having the results of any debriefing of
RODRIGUEZ by: @ rench. authorities; with particular reference to the reasons

for his. re gnation: and his. plans for the future.


